Solo a Star Wars Story, or no?

by Kevin Pringle

Let’s get this out of the way first, I am a huge Star Wars fan. George Lucas has changed not only the face of modern day cinema, but of science, everyday life, and even gone so far as to alter religion. Not a day goes by where a Star Wars quote or reference isn’t available in any given situation. With that being said, with academy award winning director Ron Howard at the helm we journey into the backstory of one of the most loved characters in the Star Wars universe…Han Solo.

Han is a rogue, a rebel, a smuggler, an ace pilot, a cocky charmer, a scruffy nerf herder. Yet at first glance of the full trailer for Solo a Star Wars Story we see just how far from our beloved Han this movie will likely be. My first impression after watching and rewatching the trailer was, “this isn’t Star Wars. This is Fast and the Furious meets Star Trek.” Now while both enterprises are great in their own right, neither belongs in Star Wars. A shiny white clean Millenium Falcon with far to much lighting and bright chrome controls, a complete miss on why Han was no longer in the pilot academy for the Imperial Empire, throw in a couple of characters that have no place in the story line other than star appeal and eye candy and what are we left with? A younger Han who cannot, at first glance, recapture the magic and charm that Harrison Ford made iconic a terrific actor in Donald Glover that can’t seem to embody the same swagger as Billy Dee Williams, and thankfully our favorite Wookie Chewbacca.

Now while this is only at first glance, it seems that once more Disney doesn’t grasp what Star Wars truly is or means to its loyal fan base. Perhaps this trailer was just poorly executed, perhaps the movie will have the magic we all crave in our movies, perhaps we will learn new things about our young heroes….or perhaps this movie will be what we fear, the last hope of putting Star Wars back on the right path.